Yulia Navalnaya says Putin is not Russia's legitimate president
World
Yulia Navalnaya says Putin is not Russia's legitimate president
LONDON (Reuters) - Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin was not the legitimate president of Russia and that she would try to convince world leaders not to sit down to negotiate with him.
Putin won 87.3% of the vote and a new six-year term on Sunday in an election which the West said was neither free nor fair. China, India and others congratulated him on his victory.
The Kremlin said the election result showed that an overwhelming majority of Russians had consolidated around him.
In a video message, Navalnaya praised the participation of thousands of people across Russia and abroad in a noon protest on Sunday against Putin's rule.
"We have proved to ourselves and others that Putin is not our president," Navalnaya said in the clip posted to her late husband's YouTube channel.
"The election results do not matter... We will ensure that no one in the world recognises Putin as the legitimate president. That no one sits down with him at the negotiating table," she said.
It was not clear where the clip was filmed. Navalnaya, 47, took part in Sunday's protest action from Berlin.
Shortly before his death in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, Navalny had endorsed the idea of Russians coming out at noon on March 17 to vote against Putin, spoil their ballots or simply register their solidarity with the opposition.
Yulia Navalnaya has vowed to continue her husband's work. She and Navalny's supporters say Putin is responsible for his death, a claim denied by the Kremlin.
